There are top hacking apps that can be used to check our network and secure our systems. The global cybersecurity situation is not going through its best period and threatens the entire technology industry. The cyber cold war that experts talk about continues at the top, while companies, administrations and critical infrastructures are increasingly pressured by that authentic digital pandemic that Ransomware has become. The section on client machines and consumption is not much better.
If the SolarWinds case is far from clear and from what we know so far it will end up becoming the most serious security breach so far this century, the Colonial Pipeline incident is another that makes the hair stand on end. How guys (presumably from Russia) can put America’s vital infrastructure on the ropes is another wake-up call to the need to invest more and better in cybersecurity.
And at the user level what to tell you. In addition to Ransomware that has become the main global threat affecting any operating system, platform or device, there is no shortage of phishing campaigns that use identity theft and, in general, any means of introducing malware in increasingly numerous, sophisticated attacks., dangerous and massive, seeking financial gain, data theft and equipment control.
Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has complicated all scenarios as employees and students have had to relocate to home environments generally less protected than business or administrative ones. It is a challenge to keep safe from viruses, Trojans and specimens of all conditions and for all platforms, without forgetting the increase in disinformation, fake news and in general the manipulation of information that some analysts consider a more computer security problem.
Best hacking apps
Although there are measures to combat the most widespread threats such as phishing or ransomware, suitable as general protection for all types of users, there is another cybersecurity strategy used by more advanced users and system administrators that proactively chooses to get ahead of them. events, testing network security just as an attacker would.
Using these tools is not easy. It requires time, caution in its use and some knowledge of how a computer network works. However, its advantages are notable as they allow us to identify which areas are the “weak spots” in the network and address them before they are the “bad guys” to discover and exploit them. Beyond large commercial developments, which we cannot even access or pay for because they are reserved for large companies, agencies and governments, these tools are commonly used in hacking (by good and ‘bad’) for analysis of vulnerable networks.
We remind you of some of the most used hacking applications, all free to use and some open source. Here we must make the due considerations: Use them at your own risk, only for educational purposes and to check your own network, not others for which you are not authorized. Following are the top hacking apps for securing your network..
Wireshark
A de facto standard that has been with us for more than twenty years and that the oldest in the place will remember as Ethereal. It is used equally in business, education or home system as a sniffer, packet capture, designed for analysis and resolution of network problems, software and communications protocol development.
It allows to visualize the activity of the users in the network and captured “strange” traffics related for example to a Trojan. It works over Ethernet, IEEE 802.11 or PPP networks and the captured data can be queried through a graphical user interface or a command line terminal. Wireshark is free and open source, available for Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, and others.
Nmap
It is another of the reference hacking applications. Even older than Wireshark and just as interesting, this Network Mapper is one of the essential applications for system administrators. It is used to carry out penetration tests, identifies open ports or services that are running, offers the response of computers to a ping, and in general, allows auditing the security of a network and possible vulnerabilities.
Its popularity is such that we saw it working in several movies such as The Matrix Reloaded or Battle Royale. Free and open source, Nmap works on Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X.
Nessus
Originally open source, it later became proprietary software, but remains free for home users with a seven-day trial. It bills itself as the most popular vulnerability scanner on the Internet, used by more than 27,000 organizations around the world. Nessus searches for open ports and attempts attacks with various known exploits.
For auditing purposes on your own home network, you must deactivate the “unsafe test” option so as not to corrupt the system. It works on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux , and can run on a home computer, in the cloud, or in a hybrid environment.
Ettercap
One of the most complete applications to detect attacks man-in-the-middle in the home network or any LAN. It is an infiltration technique widely used by cybercriminals, as we saw in large attacks such as Logjam, the critical vulnerability that affects the TLS protocol, and that allows connections to be degraded to a 512-bit encryption export grade in order to decrypt communications.
Ettercap works on all major operating systems and you can download it from their website.
Cain & Abel
It is a password recovery tool for Windows operating systems. It allows you to recover various types of passwords using dictionary, brute force, cryptanalysis attacks, recording VoIP conversations, or recovering wireless network keys.
Beyond its ability to recover passwords it was developed to be useful to network administrators, security consultants or professionals and can be used to evaluate the security of our network. Development is discontinued, but it still works and can be downloaded from various sites on the Internet.
Nikto2
It is a scanner for web servers that analyzes more than 6,700 potentially dangerous files or programs and 1,250 web servers. It also checks for server configuration items such as the presence of multiple index files, HTTP server options, and will attempt to identify installed web servers and software. Scan items and plug-ins are updated frequently and can be updated automatically.
Useful considering that hackers have put web servers on their retina as a method of entry into the network, taking advantage of insecure WordPress implementations or outdated Apache servers. Nikto2 is free and open source and can be downloaded from its repository on GitHub.
